The coloration of carpets and other piled fabrics represents an important consideration when determining the suitability of a particular fabric for a particular use. In many instances, the user may require a particularized pattern and multiple well known technologies are available for use in imparting such definite and distinct patterns to fabrics. As will be appreciated, however, in some settings a well defined pattern may not be desired for carpeting. Moreover, a solid color may also be undesirable. In such instances, carpeting having multiple colors arranged in a visually non-distinct organization to impart a random amorphous organization of color with no regular pattern of solid color may prove useful. Such coloration schemes are often referred to as imparting a "natural" look to the fabric.
The present invention provides a pile fabric having such an organization of color. The pile fabric has a pile portion which includes spun yarn in combination with bulk continuous filament yarn. The spun yarn is preferably two ply and includes one end of yarn space-dyed by a commercially available process twisted in conjunction with one end of solid stock dyed yarn. The bulk continuous filament yarn is also preferably two ply but is entirely space-dyed. The spun yarn and bulk continuous filament yarn are preferably tufted in alternating fashion through a base layer. A method and apparatus for forming such a pile fabric is also provided.
The prior art has recognized a number of schemes for imparting variations in color in piled fabric such as carpet. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,375 to Harper, Jr. et al., a process is disclosed for cross-dyeing cellulosic fabrics involving the selective dyeing of treated yarns in a woven fabric. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,012,303 3,102,322 and 4,033,717 to Whitaker (all incorporated by reference) disclose tufted pile carpet formed from space dyed knit/de-knit yarn. U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,735 to McDaniel, Jr. (incorporated by reference) discloses a patterned tufted product formed from a space dyed polyester or polypropylene yarn tufted in conjunction with an undyed yarn having a susceptibility to a dye to which the polyester or polypropylene yarn is not susceptible in alternating rows in a high/low technique to form a carpet having a high/low design and thereafter dyeing the undyed yarn. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,329,143 and 4,338,090 to Hutcheson (both incorporated by reference) disclose a simulated Berber yarn and process for producing the same which process includes the selective dyeing of a knit prefabric. U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,347 to Kay et al., discloses a process for preparing a tufted rug including the tufting of space dyed yarns of "carrier" fibers in combination with undyed yarns of "carrierless" polyester fibers and/or nylon fibers. The rug is then dyed with a cationic acid or disperse dye appropriate to the dye receptivity of the undyed yarns while avoiding of the overdyeing of the space-dyed yarns to produce a multicolor piece-dyed area rug.
Significantly, none of these references disclose the ability to use spun yarn such as multi-ply spun yarn having a space-dyed component in combination with a space-dyed filament yarn in a tufted fabric to achieve coloration without the occurrence of some sort of visually perceptible pattern such as stripes, chevrons, color blocks, or the like. Rather, it is believed that heretofore, the combination of spun and filament yarn in the same tufted fabric was largely thought to be unworkable. Specifically, prior to the present invention it was generally thought that the use of spun yarn in combination with filament yarn in the same tufted fabric would lead to problems such as tangling of the spun fibers with the fibers of the bulk continuous filament yarn which necessarily leads to undesirable downtime of the tufting apparatus.
Further, the prior art seems to indicate that the occurrence of visually discernable patterning is inevitable with the use of space-dyed yarn in piled fabric and thus either presents alternatives to the use of such space-dyed yarns or techniques such as selective dyeing to cover up such patterning.